Now, more and more automakers are betting on wide-bandgap power semiconductors such as SiC and GaN, silicon carbide and gallium nitride, which reduce component size, increase efficiency and improve the performance of hybrid and all-electric vehicles. So after the upward conduction, chipmakers are transforming their businesses to catch up with the explosive growth of the electric vehicle market.
At the recent Advanced Automotive Technology Forum’s EV Wide Bandgap Semiconductor panel, industry experts discussed efforts to address current challenges and future opportunities for GaN and SiC, with some of the trends worth keeping an eye on.
Vehicle electrification is the norm
In the clean energy sector, the electric vehicle market is by far the most dynamic. Approximately 130,000 electric vehicles were sold worldwide in 2012. Today, that’s just the number of electric cars sold in a week.
Since 2020, the pandemic has severely affected the traditional car market, but it has not curbed sales of electric vehicles. The latest data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that EV sales were 2.2 million in 2019 and 3 million in 2020, while EV sales more than doubled to 6.6 million in 2021, accounting for nearly 9% of the global automotive market. The net increase in global car sales in 2021 was driven by electric vehicles.
Driven by government subsidies and other incentives, China led the growth of the global electric vehicle market in 2021, with sales nearly tripling to 3.4 million units, according to the IEA. In China, in particular, the government’s official goal is to have an electric vehicle market share of 20% by 2025.
As part of the European Green Deal, the EU has set itself ambitious targets for neutrality by 2050 and decided to ban the sale of new fossil fuel vehicles after 2035. In fact, EV sales in the EU grew by almost 70% to 2.3 million sales. And that’s just the beginning.
Looking at the value chain, not only do automakers need to adapt and keep up with EV adoption, but power chip suppliers are also scrambling to enter to meet the demand for EV powertrain components such as on-board chargers, traction inverters, and DC/DC converters.
Betting on the third generation of semiconductors, automotive semiconductor manufacturers embrace the tide of electrification
But the question then becomes, is electrification a sustainable way out in the face of semiconductor shortages.
“If you want to electrify a product vehicle, you can’t do it in a year, it takes five to ten years,” Onsemi said. “OEMs are entering into long-term agreements – not just commercial agreements, but also technical agreements. The customer wants to know the manufacturer’s roadmap and what the quality index of the specific resistance will reach three years from now. Because once a customer buys a chip with a certain performance today, it will definitely need to update the power module of their product in the future. ”
Strategically, Onsemi’s production footprint validates this, with its SiC MOSFETs and SiC diodes currently used in electric vehicles and projects with automotive OEMs around the world.
“There is no doubt that the shortage of silicon carbide wafers is hindering the growth of the new energy vehicle market,” echoed the strategic marketing manager of the power transistor macro division at STMicroelectronics. To address global capacity constraints and enable substrate design and in-house production, ST acquired Swedish SiC wafer manufacturer Norstel for $137.5 million in late 2019.
Of course, it will still take time to build high-volume substrate capacity, and DiGiovanni said ST has signed “large strategic supply contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars with partners for continuity and access to substrates.” The goal is to have “at least 40% of substrate demand produced in-house” by 2025.
In these times of multiple uncertainties, building resilience in manufacturing and supply chains is a priority. Obviously, the global demand for automotive semiconductors is mainly concentrated in two regions, ST said: “Our capacity is growing very fast, with a second production plant in Singapore, very close to China… And a second assembly line, Casablanca, Morocco, was introduced very close to Europe. ”
Similarly, automotive semiconductor giant Nexperia tends to adopt a dual sourcing approach to reduce supply chain risk. “In the automotive industry, customers in general need dual sourcing to secure supply, which is why we are based in Europe and the Far East at the same time,” says Nexperia’s Director of Strategic Marketing for Power GaN Technology.
Betting on the third generation of semiconductors, automotive semiconductor manufacturers embrace the tide of electrification
Manufacturers transition to 8-inch wafers
The next generation of electric vehicles will require technologies that meet stringent requirements for high efficiency and reliability, eliminating defects and reducing costs. SiC and GaN power semiconductors offer automotive manufacturers promising solutions, which have also led to a technological upgrade from 150 mm (6 in.) to 200 mm (8 in.) wafer production.
While increasing the manufacturing size of a wafer can significantly reduce the unit cost of a component, it also presents significant challenges in eliminating production defects and improving the yield of the delivered semiconductors.
Last July, ST announced that it had fabricated the first 8-inch SiC bulk wafers at its facility in Norrköping, Sweden, for prototyping next-generation power devices. The company claims that the first wafers to come into production have advantages such as “high quality, minimal impact on yield, and crystal dislocation defects.”
ST currently produces STPOWER SiC MOSFETs on two 6-inch wafer lines at its facilities in Catania and Ang Mo Kio (Singapore), and assembles and tests them at its back-end facilities in Shenzhen and Bouskour. “Our existing equipment for 6-inch wafers can also handle 8-inch wafers,” said ST executives, “and the switch to 8 inches [of the production line] will be smooth, and it doesn’t mean buying brand new equipment.” ”
Similarly, Onsemi currently mainly produces 6-inch wafers because “that’s the market standard.” However, the company also acquired GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) in November 2021 to expand GTAT’s manufacturing facilities and support research and development efforts to advance 150mm and 200mm SiC crystal growth technologies. “GTAT is working on the production of 8-inch wafers, and we’re already testing materials,” Onsemi said, “It’s not an easy adjustment, but it’s necessary, and we all need 8-inch wafers.” ”
Betting on the third generation of semiconductors, automotive semiconductor manufacturers embrace the tide of electrification
GaN wafer production is also shifting to 8-inch.
“GaN wafers are currently mostly 6-inch, but we plan to convert it to 8-inch, and we believe the increase in production and our 8-inch transition will be compatible with the timeline we see in the market,” said Nexperia executives.
On the other hand, Infineon and Panasonic recently announced that they are developing a second-generation 8-inch GaN-on-Si wafer, which will be launched in 2023.
Similarly, Suzhou, China-based Innoscience has two fabs dedicated to manufacturing 8-inch GaN-on-Si devices and producing always-off (e-mode) GaN devices for a variety of applications and voltages – low voltage (down to 30 V) and high voltage (up to 650 V). Innoscience says production is currently 10,000 tablets per month, but will reach 14,000 tablets per month by the end of this year and 70,000 tablets per month by 2025.
Betting on the third generation of semiconductors, automotive semiconductor manufacturers embrace the tide of electrification
summary
According to the British research firm IDTechEx, the demand for semiconductors per electric vehicle is about 2.3 times that of internal combustion engine vehicles. By 2022, on current trends and assuming no supply-side constraints, IDTechEx predicts that electrification of the automotive industry (BEV, PHEV, FCEV, HEV, 48 V) will require an additional $7.4 billion worth of semiconductor materials compared to without electrification.
“The market is undergoing a revolution and the role of the first echelon of the market has been completely redefined,” Ronsemi’s Director of Automotive Traction Solutions is the right way to conclude this article, “Semiconductor manufacturers are facing a great opportunity to strengthen themselves and seize areas of strength, because it is all about the vehicle systems that semiconductors manufacture. ”
